Sustainability is a key pillar for the Ladies European Tour (LET) and the LET Access Series (LETAS) throughout the 2024 season and beyond.
The LET is committed to recognising and promoting great sustainable work being done by the LET community as part of the Tour’s initiative LET Celebrating the Green presented by Dow in partnership with GEO Foundation for Sustainable Golf.
LET Celebrating the Green presented by Dow was launched in December 2020 and since then the LET has showcased examples of green initiatives at tournaments, players taking part in activations and communicating best practice.
The purpose of this initiative is to continue to celebrate the great sustainable activities – environmental, human, social and economic – to help spread awareness, get people involved and drive sustainability which ultimately leaves a legacy and positive impact in the regions the LET visits.
Alexandra Armas, CEO of the LET, said: “Our Celebrating the Green Presented by Dow initiative means we can communicate best sustainable practice to our players, partners, tournaments and venues.
“We’re very proud of the progress that the LET has made in terms of sustainability and our promoters are doing great work with their tournaments to make them as sustainable as possible. It’s important for the LET and our players to be able to help promoters by applying good practice at tournaments and making a bigger impact.”
Tournaments on both the LET and LETAS have shown great examples of sustainable practice before, during and after the tournaments have taken place.
Transport – Courtesy cars and buggies at the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed will be electric and all buggies will be electric, while at the Dutch Ladies Open spectators and volunteers are encouraged to use public transportation, use bicycles or carpool. At the Women’s Scottish Open, 75% of the food is sourced within 50 miles of the venue reducing the carbon footprint and transportation.
Water – At tournaments such as the Women’s Scottish Open, there are water refill points and removal of single use plastic items in public catering, while at the Dutch Ladies Open there will be no more plastic bottles handed out or sold in 2024 with players, volunteers and spectators requested to use their own drinking bottles. At some LET events, venues have used a 100% recyclable system for water with others using only rainwater to irrigate the greens and the tees.
Energy – The Dutch Ladies Open use generators which are powered by Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil and are looking into a better solution for the use of generators, and it is a similar story in Scotland where 85% of the tournament energy supplied through mains supplied renewable energy with few remaining generators powered with sustainability-sourced biofuel (HVO).
Recycling – Several events on the LET including the Dutch Ladies Open recycle specific event materials such as flags and banners with new products being made from them which are given as gifts to volunteers. In Scotland there is a comprehensive recycling and waste management programme with zero waste to landfill across the tournament operations.
Social sustainability – Tournaments across the LET season give clinics to the local community. At the 2024 Dutch Ladies Open, there will be a Junior Pro-Am where the entire afternoon is dedicated to girls aged between 8-18 to get them into golf and enjoy the day with their friends, as well as having the opportunity to play with LET stars.
Charity – The title sponsor of the 2024 Get Golfing Women’s Golf Championship on LETAS is a charity with an aim to drive participation in golf and will have many initiatives to grow the game involving juniors, as well as working with different communities throughout the event and having a birdie initiative.
Education – 400 spectators educated by Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) in relationship between golf and nature at the Women’s Scottish Open, while they also did a comprehensive awareness campaign #TGSWOGoingforGreen highlighting sustainability initiatives onsite and through social media.
Environment – The Dutch Ladies Open is only played on courses which are GEO Certified, while last year the Women’s Scottish Open became the first GEO Certified Tournament on the LET.
Another way for tournaments and players to get involved in the initiative is to send out calls for action on social media during Awareness Days that relate to sustainability.
One example from a player is Czechia’s Sara Kouskova – the 2022 LETAS Order of Merit winner – who is passionate about sustainability and highlighted Sustainable Golf Week on her social media channels (above left).
While La Sella Golf, the venue of the La Sella Open, is spreading awareness and by highlighting local honey production and the importance of biodiversity on site through having an event dedicated to World Bee Day (above right).
LET player Camille Chevalier, who is a GEO Sustainable Champion, said: “Most tournaments are delivering sustainability initiatives. It is important for us LET players to support these initiatives when we are on site to help spread awareness about sustainable golf and practices in the regions we visit.”
Follow all the action @LETgolf on Instagram and X and Ladies European Tour on Facebook and YouTube – #LETCelebratingTheGreen presented by @DowSports | #ForSustainableGolf
